I have this curl command:
curl -k -d . -o SessionRequest.txt
""What does -d . stand for? What does it do?
1 Answer
Whenever your have a doubt use man.
Issue man curl and read about -d switch.
-d, --data <data> (HTTP) Sends the specified data in a POST request to the HTTP cause curl to pass the data to the server using the content-type -d, --data is the same as --data-ascii. --data-raw is almost the ter. To post data purely binary, you should instead use the [...] It allows you to send ASCII data, eg.:
curl -d '{"hello": "world"}' -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" Send a JSON string to the server.
In your example, it just send a . character as ASCII data to the server. What it does depends on the server logic and is out of the curl command scope.
This said, we can guess what a . (dot, period, full stop) might mean in computer science:
- Dot is a placeholder for the current directory in Unix File Systems;
- Dot is a wildcard for any character in most Regular Expression grammars;
- Dot is the separator between labels in domain name;
- Dot is a common separator for filename and extension;
Nota: It is considered as a bad practice to send credentials using GET parameters, avoid it if you can and read more.
